


Everything in Its Place

by Eliza



Category: Saiyuki Gaiden
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-03-12
Updated: 2007-03-12
Packaged: 2017-10-12 08:29:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/122933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliza/pseuds/Eliza





	Everything in Its Place

"Where's--"

"SH!"

The sharp response to his unasked question stops Kenren in mid-stride. Tenpou has the decency to smile at him while pointing at a large chair tucked between two bookcases, a small creature, the subject of his question, curled up on the seat. Kenren smiles back, and is still smiling when he turns to Konzen, who is not smiling.

"Do not wake him up!" Konzen whispers harshly. "He's been moving non-stop since sunrise."

"How is this different from any other day?" Kenren asks, smiling wider.

"Most days he leaves Konzen's sight to do most of that moving," Tenpou says.

Kenren nods wisely. "I have just the thing!" He unhooks the bottle from his belt and Tenpou inclines his head in agreement. He thinks for a moment--sometimes Tenpou indulges his sense of drama-–then gets up and rattles around in one of the drawers beside Konzen.

"Is there anything you don't have in this desk?" Kenren mutters, trying to see over the top. He ends up almost nose to nose with Konzen. "Why are you sitting at Tenpou's desk?"

Konzen only scowls at him so Tenpou answers, "He feels safer there. We're trying for calm." Konzen scowls at Tenpou. Tenpou meets the fierce face with a serene one and places three small cups on the desk.

"Safer? Sitting at your desk?!" Kenren is mostly ignored except for the sidelong look Tenpou gives him. He's in trouble now. But Konzen is here, dammit. And the saru. Trouble will have to wait until later. Trouble involving the desk, if he's lucky.

Tenpou pours the sake and offers a cup to Konzen. "It's medicinal," he says reasonably. "It should relax those muscles giving you the headache."

"Who says I have a headache?"

"You're wound so tight, I'm getting a headache just looking at you," Kenren says, not waiting for a drink to be offered.

Tenpou picks up his own cup and offers a toast. "To being very, very quiet."

They drink, except for Kenren, who inhales when he remembers the last time he heard that phrase. He still has the scars on the inside of his lip from holding in the moans. He tries to cough quietly and Tenpou pats his back gently. Konzen casts an anxious glance at Goku in the chair.

"Perhaps we should move into the other room," Tenpou says, making a point of following Konzen's gaze. "We won't be far. Goku will let us know when he's awake."

"Without a doubt," Konzen grumbles, but takes his cup when he gets up from Tenpou's chair. A very good sign, in Kenren's book. He shakes the bottle at Tenpou from behind Konzen's back, but Tenpou makes it clear that he shouldn't worry about there only being a little bit of sake still sloshing in the bottom.

The other room is Tenpou's bedroom. The only way to tell is by the presence of the bed. And the only way to tell there's a bed is because Kenren wanders by often enough to keep it reasonably clutter-free. Although the desk is cleaner. Kenren smirks when he remembers why. Konzen's eye's narrow when he catches sight of Kenren's expression, so Kenren makes a point of doing something...innocent. He cleans off the bed. "Is this all the stuff from the desk?" Kenren asks, his arms full.

Tenpou's eyes light up with the memory, but he answers just as benignly, "Not all of it, no. You can dump it over there." He nods toward the spot where there should be a chair but....

"It might fall over and kill us all."

Konzen huffs out what might be a laugh, and Tenpou takes the pile of books and papers from Kenren's grasp, nudging against his hip while passing by. Kenren refills his cup and offers to top up Konzen's, who has finally settled after pacing the room, leaning against the windowsill. Tenpou slips the now-empty bottle out of Kenren's hand, then fills it from another that he pulls from drawer in the bottom of the wardrobe. Kenren frowns; he doesn't remember seeing sake in that drawer.

"Konzen, you should sit," Tenpou says, briefly touching his fingers to the bare skin on Konzen's arm. And he doesn't burst into flames or anything equally horrific. Although Kenren is sure there will be some kind of retribution for such a desecration. Eventually. But Konzen just looks down at where he was touched and then back at Tenpou.

"Where?" he says, his lips twisting into something that might be mistaken as a smile.

There's no mistaking Tenpou's smile as he looks around his room. "The bed's clear," he says, grinning wider into Konzen's eyes as he says it. "Come on. You need someone to work out those kinks in your shoulders and Kenren has excellent hands."

Alcohol ends up in Kenren's lungs for the second time in less than a quarter of an hour. "Me?!" he croaks, eyes streaming. He'll be melted into a puddle of ooze, he's sure of it. It's one thing to toss his arm around Konzen's shoulder in public, it's quite another to put fingers to skin. In private. With intent.

"Him?" Konzen says, and the doubting tone brings Kenren back into the mind set of a soldier given a dangerous, impossible mission. His favourite kind. Especially with the best tactician in Heaven or under it drawing the maps.

"You could have Tenpou do it, but he has a tendency to leave marks due to--"

Konzen's hand comes up, cutting him off. "Will you be quiet while you do it?"

Kenren's not sure.... "Say yes," Tenpou prompts.

"Yes."

"Fine." Konzen walks over to the bed and perches on the edge. Kenren will have to crawl up behind him. He's about to step up onto the bed, when Tenpou clears his throat. Kenren leaves his boots on the floor.

"Konzen, move back. It looks like you're about to topple off," Tenpou says, softly. Kenren can see Konzen's glare in Tenpou's answering smile but he also makes sure not to be in the way when Konzen shifts farther onto the mattress. Tenpou reaches around and gathers up all the strands of Konzen's long tail of hair, placing them to fall in front of Konzen's shoulder. "Would you like more sake?" he asks, in a voice that makes Kenren's breath catch.

"No."

The answer is abrupt but there is something in Konzen's voice that Kenren has never heard. An easing. Something he wants to encourage. He starts with fingers on cloth, the high collar covering exactly the muscles that he needs to get at. He presses with fingertips and thumb. "It's like stone! How the hell do you even move?"

"Shhh," Tenpou says, leaning over Konzen's shoulder. Kenren steals a kiss and Tenpou lets him. "You must be quiet," Tenpou says in that same voice, full of plans and promises. Kenren nods.

"I'm sorry, Konzen. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Tenpou has his fingers just at the edge of Konzen's hairline and Kenren can feel the relaxation already happening under his own hands.

"Still less trouble than the saru," Konzen rumbles, starting to sound like a contented feline. "Or possibly just better trained. Any suggestions?"

Tenpou's laugh actually holds a hit of embarrassment, a novelty that catches Kenren's interest. "None that would be suitable in your situation." As Tenpou lifts his eyes to meet Kenren's stare, Kenren remembers what he has seen in that wardrobe drawer. He swallows hard.

"I'll remember that if the situation changes," Konzen says, possibly not knowing what he's saying, but Kenren isn't about to ask for clarification. Konzen's head tilts back, Tenpou's fingers on Konzen's jaw encouraging the movement. Kenren rises up onto his knees to support Konzen against his chest and then digs his fingers under the ridge of Konzen's skull to find another set of knots. The resulting sound is most definitely a purr.

There is a faint echo from Tenpou. He has shed all of his usual armour and is as close to naked as he gets without actually being nude–-light undershirt, soft pants, and a look of hunger that is usually so carefully hidden but Kenren knows is always there. Kenren pushes Konzen forward, just a little, an invitation he doesn't have the authority to give. Tenpou leaves off massaging under Konzen's jaw and drags his fingers slowly down Konzen's throat. Konzen opens his eyes.

Kenren waits for something to spontaneously combust.

Konzen grabs Tenpou's wrists, pulling them away from his neck, forcing Tenpou to move forward, his knee coming up between Konzen's thighs to stop an ungraceful tumble. Konzen moves his weight off of Kenren's chest, face remaining uplifted as he pulls Tenpou toward him. The kiss is surprisingly gentle, as if both expect the other to protest. That doesn't last long.

The Field Marshal knows how to use an opening, a weakening in an opponent's defences. At the first hint of approval from Konzen, Tenpou's hands come up to cup Konzen's face, to hold him while Tenpou lets him know he has no chance of winning this battle should he choose to make it one. Kenren knows that kiss; he wants that kiss. He tries not to drool as Konzen's hands move to rest on Tenpou's hips and Konzen declares himself an ally rather than opponent. He's the one to break the kiss, though, his stamina likely not up to the level of a seasoned campaigner. Tenpou continues to caress Konzen's face as he says, "The field is yours, General."

"What?!" Kenren and Konzen both say, in their first moment of accord.

Tenpou lets go of Konzen and takes a grip in Kenren's hair, pulls him into the kiss that he had been so envious of. Konzen slips out from between them, but not far, just a turn so he can recline back on the bed. That Konzen's watching them is confirmed by a quick glance out of the corner of Kenren's eye, sending a surge of heat through him, making his trademark leather very uncomfortable. He strips to the waist easy enough, but the pants would require Tenpou to stop kissing him, and that isn't an option.

"Don't let him get away," Tenpou growls against his lips, and Kenren pounces the moment he's let loose. Maybe Tenpou wasn't kidding about having him well-trained. But considering the results, he's not going to complain at the moment. Konzen is looking up at him, slightly startled and very un-Konzen like. He's....warm, approachable. So Kenren approaches. Carefully.

Too carefully. He can see the spikes starting to return, so he dives, taking what he can before he's impaled by the twin edges of Konzen's ire and disdain. Better that he die in flames.

Oh, yes. Much better.

Goku's sun. The little monkey might have been referring to Konzen's bright colouring, but Kenren's convinced that Konzen's divine fire burns a little hotter than most. The hands on his back searing his skin, the mouth under his scorching--

"Konzen?"

Kenren almost falls off the bed at the sound of the sleepy voice. He manages to nonchalantly roll onto his back as Goku reaches the side of the bed, rubbing his eyes. "Is everybody else having a nap, too?"

"Yes, Goku," Tenpou says from behind Konzen, who has turned on his side. "Do you want to come up?"

Konzen turns to look over his shoulder at Tenpou, but holds out his hand to the saru when he turns back. Goku smiles, placing a knee square in the centre of Kenren's gut as he climbs onto the bed. Kenren tries not to wince; Konzen smiles.

Then Kenren smiles because Goku fits easily between them, curling up against Konzen's shoulder like he belongs there. Maybe he does. Konzen has relaxed enough to close his eyes, his chin resting on the top of Goku's head. Tenpou meets Kenren's gaze for a moment before settling onto the pillows, his arm stretched out against the head board. Kenren shifts casually, making himself more comfortable, with his arm wrapped over his head with just enough reach to mingle fingers with Tenpou.

Maybe they all belong, because Tenpou's bed isn't that big and yet they all seem to have found a place in it. A place where all the pieces fit.

But, dammit, what a waste of good sake. Good thing there's more for the next time the saru naps.


End file.
